Sundays.

I absolutely adore Sundays.
First off, its the Lord's Day! I dont know what id want more than to stand in his presence. Better is one day in his courts than a thousand elsewhere.
Second, i get to go to youth band! Will, Seth, Jona, Josh, Mark, and Britney. Those six people absolutely put me at peace. i can be myself around them always and i never feel any pressure. we're performing at youth group tomorrow and at church on the 14th of this month. God has sent these people to me...i would for real be pretty lost without them to brighten up my week.

Let me tell you about me and my love-hate relationship with my church. I was dedicated to a church in Nashville, then we moved here to New City Fellowship when i was really little. i grew up with all these people who taught me right from wrong, how to live. Our church is kind of...well...to say the least...different. To start, its in a basketball gym. We put a tarp down and have basketball nets over our heads...i was always really embarassed to bring my friends to church cuz it wasnt as nice as theirs... another thing is that we are very charismatic...when i was little i never really participated in alot of it. i thought it was kind of weird...but accepted it as normal behavior because i never really knew anything else. As i got older i began to resent church. i didnt like sitting in the sermons cuz they were SO LONG. i thought they would never end. i tried to listen to my pastor...but he just did not excite me. The years after that are kind of a blur. I remember not going to church as much (or i guess i just dont remember it) but i started to go to Grace Church, a church for the newly committed to Christ. THAT excited me. i was always asking my mom if we could go to Grace instead of our church but she didnt really like it much... It wasnt till about 6th grade that i began to appreciate my church. it came in little doses. i went every once in a while and it just kinda grew on me. by 8th grade i was in love with it. I absolutely adored the music and the lyrics and how we sang in different languages. I still wasnt so content with my pastors sermons, but i got what i could out of it. What brought on this change of thought you ask? i believe it was the school i went to. The school attached to Grace Church. My teachers taught me and showed me that God wanted to be involved in my life. I got a new excitment about God that i hadnt experienced before. We had chapel at that school and my 8th grade teacher really opened up my eyes to God and made me want everything that i did to glorify him. She made it so that i had fun during sermons. Then we got an amazing new assistant pastor who is hilarious and really opens my eyes to Christ as well. Finally, i got involved with youth band and youth group, which brings us to the present. I'm absolutely in love with my church. i cant wait for the day i get to go back. Worshipping the Lord is where i belong.

So when i look back at it. I realize the thing, i was brought up in a church for believers that have been believers for a looong time. Whereas Grace is for believers that are just getting started and need motivation. As for where you worship, the church isnt the building. Never in the Bible did anyone say the church was the building. They referred to the church as a body of people. whereever God's people are, there the church is. God could care less where you worship. He only pays attention to the fact that youre honoring him.

I am blessed.
Love you New City.


Until tomorrow,
Anna.